


Halfway Confidants

by Miraphina Atherton (mew_tsubaki)



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Friendship, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:15:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29416242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mew_tsubaki/pseuds/Miraphina%20Atherton
Summary: After Ziva's dramatic come-and-go, Torres and Bishop grab a bite and attempt to have a heart-to-heart.
Relationships: Nick Torres/Ellie Bishop
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23





	Halfway Confidants

**Author's Note:**

> The NCIS characters belong to Donald P. Bellasario, not to me. It was so nice to know that, within their circle of friends, someone else ships Ellick, too. XDDD Read, review, and enjoy!

They'd each eaten half of their respective dinners. By now, they were picking at what remained while the diner emptied of other patrons, and Torres was trying to figure out if his missing appetite were rubbing off on Bishop, if something else Ziva-related were amiss and she had yet to tell him, or…if maybe these last few days had caught up with them finally and tiredness at last had set in.

As if Bishop knew where his mind had gone, she yawned, punctuating the action with a grin. "And here I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep, given everything that's happened. But meeting Ziva in person at last—she more than lives up to her journal entries and Odette's tall tales." She paused and rolled her eyes. "Although I guess calling them 'tall tales' isn't correct when they all turn out to be true…"

Torres snorted and picked up another fry from his plate. "Can't blame you for thinking they might be fables, though. Sure, McGee and Palmer have told us Ziva stories of their own over the years, but still. Every time I heard one, I half expected this woman to be a figment of their collective imagination."

"Preach." Bishop scrunched her nose up at the waffle fries on her plate and reached across to pluck a straight-cut one from Torres'. "What?" she asked, eyes wide like a kid who knew she'd been caught red-handed when he settled her with a dry stare.

"I keep telling you, don't order the waffle fries; they go cold long before you can finish them. But just ask Elaine to reheat them instead of stealing off my plate, you fry thief."

Bishop cocked her head to one side, offering no rebuttal. Heck, her eyebrows rose a little, as if to remind him that he didn't really mind her swiping fries.

He didn't, but still. Either way, Torres shook his head and wondered if they'd be up for much more than fries or other junk food. "I still feel a little bit blindsided by this case," he thought aloud.

She groaned. "I'm not going to be done apologizing for a while yet, am I?"

Torres frowned and glanced at her. "Don't worry. You're not the only one at fault. I was the last one to know about Ziva's return, and probably for good reason. Still, I'mma lean on you and McGee for a while yet." He eased into a grin. "Milk this for all it's worth."

Bishop huffed. "Nick…don't. As you said, we were trying to contain knowledge of Ziva's presence for good reason." She paused and chewed on her lower lip. "To be honest, I don't really get the sense that this Sahar business is over with, anyway…"

He didn't comment. The thought had crossed his mind, too, that Sahar's almost-capture and subsequent death had been too easy. And he'd been with this team long enough now to know that they didn't deal in "easy."

"But back to my main point," Bishop said, bringing Torres' attention back to her when she pushed their food aside and sat up straighter so they were closer to eye level in their booth. "I didn't ask to hold Ziva's secret, Nick. I didn't ask to have one to stumble across, either, you know."

"No, I know. You're just too good at your job," he mumbled, slightly huffy.

Her cheeks took on a tinge of color, but she plowed on. "It's not fun, holding on to secrets and then running around at other people's whims, you know."

"Well, at least Odette's done contacting you and Ziva knows she can come straight to us—or to Gibbs again, at least," he quipped.

Bishop was quiet. Torres pretended that he hadn't seen her freeze when he said that, and he decided he'd worry some other night over which part tripped her up.

"How about this?" he offered with a soft, tired smile.

"Yeah?"

"We could always _try_ to make a promise to be completely honest with each other from here on out…"

Bishop furrowed her brow.

"…but, let's be real, that's unreasonable to expect." He shrugged.

She gave him half a smile, too. "So…what? We just…try harder to be more honest?"

"It's fair. Given our work, your stubbornness—"

"Pot calling the kettle black," Bishop interjected.

"—full honesty is something to strive for, but we don't have to beat ourselves up for not admitting everything right away. And," Torres added, "we don't have to lord it over each other, either."

Bishop hummed in response while she mulled his idea over. Eventually, she grinned, wider, more appreciatively. "Is this your roundabout way of forgiving me?"

"For the Ziva thing, yeah, but not—hey!" But Torres could only pull a face when Bishop, having regained her appetite, chose to finish his burger instead of her BLT.

But she wasn't completely greedy. She broke off a bit, fed it to him, and wiped off her fingers before asking, "So where to from here?"

Torres sighed. "Hopefully no more covert missions for a while—I was starting to get used to the steady stream of casework until Ziva David popped up…"

Bishop snickered. "Oh, come on. You're a little star-struck by her."

"Am not. Remember: I _let_ her win that staged fight." And Torres realized a beat late that he'd slipped up right after things were right between him and Bishop once more.

"That reminds me!" Bishop blinked at him, the curiosity evident in her big, brown eyes. "I mean, you two are pretty evenly matched, so it probably wouldn't be a problem, but—were you guys _chatting_ while you fought?"

Torres scoffed in an effort to clear a weird lump in his throat. "What? Nooo. Who the heck chats while fighting? Even when it's fake." He pulled another face and tried to shrug it off.

"Oh, my God, you totally _were_. Only you would manage to shoot the breeze while pulling off a fight that convincing."

Well, at least she sounded impressed.

"What even would you have to chat about with her while fighting?"

Torres froze. Ziva's words still rang clear as day in his head— _"Tell her how you feel"_ —but no way in hell was he going to tell Bishop. He'd honestly had Bishop in mind when suggesting they only _try_ to share more with each other from now on; it hadn't occurred to him that that was also for his own self-preservation.

Bishop eyed him for a minute. Then she reached across the table and patted his arm. If the same thoughts occurred to her, the same half-promise they'd just made came to mind, she didn't say. "Eh, there are bigger things on our radar," she declared.

He jumped on the topic switch. "Yeah?"

She nodded. "First Ziva comes back. Who knows what's next? We've gotta be extra careful."

"Making Ziva a harbinger of doom? Pretty dark of you, Ellie." He raised his eyebrows at her.

"It's one promise I'm good making: Watch your six a little better, yeah?"

"And you'll do the same?"

Bishop smiled. "I'll watch mine and watch yours in my spare time."

Torres laughed. "I think I can make you the same promise," he agreed.

And he meant it. Fending off mortal danger was a far easier task than admitting anything else, was an easier thing to do than saying…that _thing_ Ziva insisted he say. Besides, they say that showing is better than telling, so if he could take a bullet for Bishop, then it'd all work out in the end…right?

**Author's Note:**

> :') Well! Some more fluff. -w- Tbqh, I'm just tackling a small list of old s17 fic ideas bc I was already having A Year™ in 2019 before 2020 hit, *lol*, and I'm still a little bummed that I never posted anything for NCIS in 2020…but, alas, life happens. When s17 debuted, tho, Ziva kinda giving Ellick a little kick in the pants made my heart squeeze, and then sooo much happened for these two throughout the season, and I still think of s17 (and s16) fondly for them while I watch s18 these days. :'D The premise of this, that eventual honesty, is smthg I've written about in fics for my other fandoms, and it's smtgh I truly believe in; you can't force 100% honesty from your partner, but let it happen naturally btwn you two and good things will happen. -w- (Or am I just a romantic, *lol*.) Anyway! I enjoy writing Ellick interaction and banter and flirting bc the actors just do it so naturally that it's easy for me as a writer to get down on the page…now I just need the artist side of me catch up and produce more fanart! XD Also: The editor in me always wins out—sometimes a fic or paragraph or line you think is far too rough actually is totally fine and just needs a little bit of polishing when you come back to it a few days or a week later, *lol*. Always edit your stuff, folks! You'll be happier with your writing in the end, honest.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review! Check out my other NCIS fics if you liked this.
> 
> -mew-tsubaki :)


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